Vanity Fair Characters - eNotes.com Vanity Fair Characters Characters Discussed (Great Characters in Literature) Character Analysis (The entire section is 2018 words.) Get Free Access Start your free trial with eNotes for complete access to this resource and thousands more. 30,000+ Study Guides Save time with thousands of teacher-approved book and topic summaries. Get Homework Help Ask real teachers questions on any subject or search 300,000+ answers. On the Go Access Are you a teacher or educator? Find out about our Teacher’s Edition . Vanity Fair Homework Help Questions A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini eNotes.com is a resource used daily by thousands of students, teachers, professors and researchers. We invite you to become a part of our community. Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair NEXT Character Analysis A poor orphan of low birth, Becky Sharp is a born hustler and almost sociopathic striver who manages to raise herself to the upper limits of high society and wealth, only to see her achievements crumble under the weight of her bad deeds. Evil temptress or misunderstood woman ahead of her time? You be the judge.

Guilt, Innocence, and Motherhood One of the fun (or, yes, extremely infuriating) things about Vanity Fair is that it's full of mysteries and crimes that remain unsolved. We start out rooting for Becky to keep putting one over on the dolts and jerks she is surrounded by. Slowly though, she is transformed from a plucky up-by-her-own-bootstraps orphan to a horridly scheming liar. As we rip off our "Team Becky" shirts, we are forced to wonder why Thackeray never actually reveals whether she is guilty or innocent of the crimes that cause her reputation's fiery crash. Sure, she is constantly stealing from her creditors, letting Rawdon's professional gambling fleece her friends, and pulling financial con jobs, but somehow the narrator makes these sound like comical shenanigans rather than nefarious evil. There seem to be two things that really do Becky in: first, the accusation that she sleeps with Lord Steyne in exchange for his money and social standing; and second, that she makes Jos take out an insurance policy on his life and then murders him.

These are some pretty bad things if she did them, but no definitive evidence is ever presented, and the narrator doesn't tell us the ultimate truth. So why do we end up feeling so dirty at the end of the novel for having sided with Becky at first? Why does the narrator's allegiance shift from giving Becky credit where it's due (she is always shown to be pleasant, up to doing hard work when necessary, smart, funny, and unflaggingly optimistic) to declaring her to be a vicious and disgusting monster? We'll throw out one possibility. Stealing, cheating, and even financially motivated murder are crimes of circumstance. As the narrator always takes pains to point out, Becky is poor and needs to provide for herself and her future, by hook or by crook. Whatever she has to do toward this end is somewhat understandable, especially when her options as a woman are so limited. But there is one thing Becky is clearly guilty of. She neglects her child and is almost entirely non-maternal. This is a crime of her inmost nature. It has nothing to do with the accident of her low birth and everything to do with her failure as a human being.

Think about it – how different would the novel have been if Becky was exactly the same but also fiercely devoted to little Rawdon Jr.? Acting, Storytelling, and Lies This novel is totally fixated on the many different kinds of lies everyone must tell themselves and each other just to get through the day: Lies of politeness: Pitt Crawley pretending to defer to his mother in law and aunt. Lies of society: long-lost "friends" immediately professing undying affection for Amelia when she inherits money. Lies of self-aggrandizement: Becky telling everyone that her mother was descended from French nobility. Lies of pride: Mrs. O'Dowd exaggerating everything about Ireland. Lies of self-deception: Amelia desperately believing dead George was the best husband ever, and Dobbin holding Amelia up on an undeserved pedestal. Lies of hate: Mrs. Bute inventing Rawdon and Becky's various bad deeds to turn Miss Crawley against them. Really, you name the lie, the novel has got it in spades. With everyone swimming in this haze of untruth, the only character who does seem to be able to cut through the bull is Becky. She often has moments of speaking truth to power.

She tells off Miss Pinkerton by brushing aside euphemisms and describing their power relationship exactly. She calls George Osborne out on his patronizing and condescending ways, forcing him to treat her politely. She's able to bargain with Rawdon's creditors because she's not ashamed of his debts and can thus argue for an effective settlement of pennies on the pound. At the same time, maybe because she is so good at seeing through social mores, Becky is one heck of an actress. And we're not just talking about her command performance in charades. For one, she is an incredible mimic, using her parodic gifts to entertain Miss Crawley and Lord Steyne. For another, almost everywhere she goes, she puts on an infallible charm offensive. Finally, she is a highly gifted storyteller, if only when spinning her own version of her story. But then again, aren't we reading a version of her story too? The only character in the novel that can even compete with her is the narrator himself. And even he can't get out in front of the plot to fill in the details of her sex life and potential murderousness.

Sometimes a Cigar is More than a Cigar: Sex and Desire On top of everything else (hey, it's a long novel, lots of stuff in there), Becky is the ultimate sex symbol. She represents the promise of desire fulfilled for the men around her without seeming to have any desire herself. Think about her effect on pretty much every man she comes across. Jos wants her, though he's too shy to go for it. Sir Pitt wants her and tries to marry her. Pitt wants her and lets her get in the way of his marriage. Rawdon wants her, marries her, and keeps on wanting her. George is ready to have an affair with her two months into his marriage to Amelia. General Tufto is obsessed to the point of making himself ridiculous (well, even more ridiculous than he already is). Lord Steyne? Um, yeah. The only guy who finds her kind of repellent is Dobbin. This is also pretty telling. He is a total oddball who finds himself out of place in the surrounding society.

He doesn't fall prey to Becky because her ability to exploit the rules of mainstream Victorian heterosexuality, to act the part of the most seductive woman in the room, don't work on someone who doesn't get how the room actually works. Dobbin is the exception that proves the rule. We know this because sometimes Thackeray is explicit about how Becky does her thing. Remember the bit with the cigar? First she smokes one of Rawdon's, and he gets all...um...worked up. Then she does the same thing to George because she remembers how well it worked the first time. Sebastian Faulks on Becky Sharp - Telegraph Book Reviews Sebastian Faulks on Becky Sharp In our second extract from 'Faulks on Fiction', Sebastian Faulks argues that Becky Sharp in 'Vanity Fair' is a hero, not a heroine. By Sebastian Faulks 2:24PM GMT 20 Jan 2011 Jane Eyre is a heroine; Becky Sharp, the main character of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (1847-48), is a hero. No one seems to question the distinction: it’s obvious. Rather harder is to say quite why.

In the end, I think, it’s a question of independence. Jane Eyre is a resilient woman, of higher moral calibre than Becky Sharp, but her happiness, and her psychological “completion”, seem to depend on her securing the love and companionship of another, Mr Rochester. All her battles from the orphanage onwards, with whatever doughty and feminist intelligence they are fought, are presented as leading to this one end. Becky can’t be a heroine because she is not a “good” enough person; while Jane Eyre’s fine qualities see her through against the world, Becky is too much of that world. Her resourcefulness and skill at dealing with it, however, qualify her first for our interest, then for our backing and finally for something like heroic status. A hero may well have a lover; the chase and the affair give opportunities for displaying qualities of romance and constancy. Ultimately, though, a hero can be disappointed or defeated in love and it will not matter, because pairing off is not the goal or completion of the heroic trajectory. The hero imprints his or her qualities on society and by doing so overcomes false or smothering social restrictions.

While she has an undoubted fascination for men, Becky Sharp is magnificently indifferent to them. The thought of “settling down” or “finding the right man” would be risible to her, though from childhood she enjoys male company. She marries Rawdon Crawley because he is an affable, though temporary, associate in the business of her life: getting on in high society without working. He is no more, Thackeray says bluntly, than her “upper servant and maître d’hôtel”. Related Articles A Life Backwards 04 Sep 2012 Men, sex and marriage constitute an important, but by no means dominant, element of the lifelong survival game that Becky plays. Thackeray never suggests that Becky’s emotional life is such that it would influence her worldly actions. Most women in fiction cling at some stage to their feelings for a man as a fixed point or priority; it is at least one known star by which to steer. Becky never reaches such a stage of surrender. This is a radical conception of female character in the mid-Victorian period and it is what gives Becky her enduring interest.

Like Tom Jones, she has disreputable beginnings: she is the daughter of a French chorus girl and an alcoholic drawing master who abuses his wife and daughter. But from the first moment we see her, she is on the make, not inclined to “rehabilitate” the memory of her parents and to prove that society’s disdain for them is snobbish or unkind, but to make a path for herself despite her disadvantages. Becky’s world is all about her; and her challenge is to keep the faith in her own egotistical drive in a social world that is more venal, corrupt and smothering than anything portrayed in Henry Fielding’s London. Thackeray’s London is literally pre-Victorian, belonging to the Regency period in which the story is set, but also, through the biblical reference of the title and the generic names such as Lady Bareacres, purporting to be timeless. Becky’s real problem lies not in her intelligence, education, beauty or cunning – on all of which she scores highly – but in the lack of liquidity in capital markets. It was simply very difficult for a clever middle-class girl with no money to acquire enough of it to live well.

Had Becky and Rawdon lived at some time in the last 30 years, Rawdon could conceivably have found himself a position in an investment bank. He is an unflappable and not entirely straight gambler; he would seem to have the qualifications to work on the proprietary desk of an investment bank. As it is Becky is debarred by convention from working and has enough scruple, we think, not to sell her body for cash. Whether she actually sleeps with Lord Steyne in order to keep his flow of expensive presents coming her way, we do not know – because Thackeray tells us he does not know either. Acquiring straight cash by marriage into the Crawley family is made difficult, as so often in Victorian law and fiction, by a disputed will. Becky’s access to money is therefore sporadic, and securing it is the main occupation of her life. The sticking point with Becky – the point at which many readers have parted company with her – is her dislike of her son, little Rawdon. She has no maternal feeling. She ignores him or bullies him, and is scornful of his father’s fondness.

She makes him eat in the kitchen or with the servants and dispatches him to boarding school as soon as possible. Once, on “seeing that tenderness was the fashion”, she kisses the boy in public, only for him to point out, loudly, that she never does so at home. When her husband finds himself detained by a creditor, under a sort of civilian arrest, Becky makes no hurry to bail him out. Freed eventually by his sister-in-law, Rawdon returns home to find Becky canoodling with Lord Steyne. She pleads her innocence, but Rawdon finds a banknote for £1,000 in Becky’s purse and in the view of the world, she is now “a wicked woman, a heartless mother and a false wife”. Our interest in Becky Sharp lies in the fact that she is a hero with no morally good qualities. She fulfils all the narrative requirements of the hero, but Thackeray has jettisoned the idea that such a person must be “good”. The strange thing is that it seems to work. Function trumps goodness. The novel is a user-friendly machine.

* Faulks on Fiction: Great British Characters and the Secret Life of the Novel by Sebastian Faulks is published by BBC Books at £20 T £18 books.telegraph.co.uk * The four-part documentary Faulks on Fiction will be broadcast on BBC Two from early February * Next week: PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves The Confessions of Becky Sharp by David James | Review | Historical Novels Review Find & buy on Fans of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair and its unforgettable anti-heroine, Becky Sharp, will delight in David James’s smart, intensely readable, funny, and surprisingly moving take on that classic novel’s plot. In the pages of James’s novel, Becky Sharp (the semi-tragic Lady Crawley) jumps to center stage and tells her own story, culminating in her marriage to Rawdon Crawley, her disastrous affair with Lord Steyne, and her own take on the decidedly scandalous characterization Thackeray gives her throughout his book.

James fills the whole narrative with great pathos, glints of humor, and some very perceptive echoes and warpings of his famous template, all the while imbuing Becky herself with all the caustic intelligence Thackeray gave her, but a good deal more humanity. Without doing excessive violence to the continuity of Vanity Fair, he manages to give his unforgettable heroine the one thing Thackeray pointedly denied her: a kind of triumph. Readers who are familiar with Vanity Fair will love this book, but even readers who are not will find it an intelligent and fast-paced story. As a literary pastiche, it could hardly be bettered. Advertisement Vanity Fair - Notes | Vanity Fair (Novel) Vanity Fair - Notes complete notes about William Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair from cliffs notes .... Copyright: Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC) 2 Book Summary Amelia Sedley, of good family, and Rebecca Sharp, an orphan, leave Miss Pinkerton'sacademy on Chiswick Mall to live out their lives in Vanity Fair — the world of socialclimbing and search for wealth.

Amelia does not esteem the values of Vanity Fair;Rebecca cares for nothing else.Rebecca first attempts to enter the sacred domain of Vanity Fair by inducing JosephSedley, Amelia's brother, to marry her. George Osborne, however, foils this plan; heintends to marry Amelia and does not want a governess for a sister-in-law. Rebeccatakes a position as governess at Queen's Crawley, and marries Rawdon Crawley, secondson of Sir Pitt Crawley. Because of his marriage, Rawdon's rich aunt disinherits him.First introduced as a friend of George Osborne, William Dobbin becomes the instrumentfor getting George to marry Amelia, after George's father has forbidden the marriage onaccount of the Sedley's loss of fortune. Because of George's marriage, old Osbornedisinherits him. Both young couples endeavor to live without sufficient funds. Georgedies at Waterloo. Amelia would have starved but for William Dobbin's anonymouscontribution to her welfare. Joseph goes back to his post in India, claiming such valor atWaterloo that he earns the nickname "Waterloo Sedley." Actually he fled at the soundof the cannon.

Both Rebecca and Amelia give birth to sons.Rebecca claims she will make Rawdon's fortune, but actually she hides much of herloot, obtained from admiring gentlemen. When she becomes the favorite of the greatLord Steyne, she accumulates both money and diamonds. In the meantime innocentRawdon draws closer to Lady Jane, wife of Rawdon's older brother, Pitt, who hasinherited from the rich aunt.When Rawdon discovers Rebecca in her treachery, he is convinced that money meansmore to her than he or the son whom she has always hated. He refuses to see heragain and takes a post in Coventry Island, where he dies of yellow fever.Because her parents are starving and she can neither provide for them nor give littleGeorgy what she thinks he needs, Amelia gives up her son to his grandfather Osborne.William Dobbin comes back from the service, reconciles old Osborne to Amelia, whereatOsborne makes a will leaving Georgy half of his fortune and providing for Amelia.Rebecca, having lost the respectability of a husband, wanders in Europe for a couple of years and finally meets Joseph, Georgy, Amelia, and William on the Continent.

Rebeccasets about to finish what she started to do at the first of the book — that is, to ensnareJoseph. She does not marry him, but she takes all his money and he dies in terror of her, the implication being that she has, at least, hastened his death. 3 At the end of the book Rebecca has the money necessary to live in Vanity Fair; sheappears to be respectable. William has won Amelia. Rebecca has been the one who jolted Amelia into recognition that George, her first love, wasn't worthy.Little Rawdon, upon the death of his uncle Pitt and his cousin Pitt, becomes the heir of Queen's Crawley. Little George, through the kindness of Dobbin, has lost his distortedvalues obtained in Vanity Fair. The reader feels that these young persons of the thirdgeneration will be better people than their predecessors in Vanity Fair. William Makepeace Thackeray Biography William Makepeace Thackeray was born at Calcutta in 1811. His father, RichmondThackeray, had been an Indian civil servant, as had William's grandfather.

His motherwas nineteen at the date of his birth, was left a widow in 1816, and married MajorHenry Carmichael Smyth in 1818.On his way to England from India, the small Thackeray saw Napoleon on St. Helena.His attendance at a school run by a Dr. Turner gave him experience later used in Vanity Fair . Always an independent spirit, he went his own way, attending various schools, butleaving Cambridge without taking a degree. His relatives wanted him to study law; heleaned toward the fine arts. At Trinity College, Cambridge, he contributed to a littlepaper called The Snob . A visit to Weimar bore fruit in the sketches of life at a small German court which appearin Vanity Fair . In 1832, he inherited a sum which amounted to about five hundredpounds a year. The money was soon lost — Rebecca Sharp Rebecca Sharp Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Child of a poor artist and a French opera girl, Becky Sharp early learns to shift for herself. Her mother dead, Becky's father with "a great propensity for running into debt, and a partiality for the tavern" brings her up.

From her mother she has a knowledge of French from her father the ability to ward off creditors. With this heritage of Bohemian blood, and a clever mind, Becky lives by her wits. At her father's death (two bailiffs quarrel over his corpse) Becky is accepted at Miss Pinkerton's to teach French in exchange for schooling, free board and room, and a little money. Ingenious Rebecca manufactures a laudable ancestry for herself, and although she is at heart selfish and hostile, she can act the part of modesty, simplicity, gentleness, and untiring good humor. When she cares for the rich Miss Crawley (who has 70,000 pounds) Rebecca's "little nerves seemed to be of iron and she was quite unshaken by the duty and tedium of the sick chamber." In addition to her mental endowment, Rebecca has physical charm, described by Dr. Squills as "Green eyes, fair skin, pretty figure, famous frontal development." Mrs. Bute Crawley laments Rebecca's physical attraction when she looks at her own dumpy, misshapen, blue-blooded daughters.

Becky has one determination: to carve out a place for herself in Vanity Fair. Although she hasn't blushed naturally since she was eight years old, she can blush at will. She exploits her aloneness and lack of protection. She can cry when she wants to, but the most genuine tears she sheds are those when she has to refuse marriage to the wealthy Sir Pitt Crawley, because she has already married his son, Rawdon. When she and Rawdon are living on nothing a year, Rebecca deals with the creditors. It is she who starts the rumor that Rawdon has inherited from his rich aunt, and thereby gets out of Paris without paying any debts, since she has ordered a newly decorated apartment against her return. It is she who settles for a percentage of Rawdon's debts in England, so that he may return to London for a fresh start. Among Rebecca's talents are music, both piano and voice. She can sketch, talk French like a native, dance, act, mimic. Not only her physical charm attracts Lord Steyne, but her wit and mimicry and her ability to get money out of him, even when he realizes she is outwitting him.

The more money she wheedles out of him, the more amused he is, until the fatal day when Rawdon walks in on the two of them. Rebecca's ambition is her outstanding characteristic. She sacrifices husband, child, friends to it; but she enjoys the battle. In a letter to Amelia, after Becky has gone to Queen's Crawley, she says, "At least I shall be amongst gentlefolks — and not with vulgar city people." This jibe refers to both the Sedleys and the Osbornes because George has thwarted her marriage with Joseph Sedley. She continues, "You might lodge all the people in Russell Square in the house, I think, and have space to spare." Although Rebecca is a merciless social climber, has abandoned her child, whom she hates, has destroyed Rawdon and will destroy Joseph, yet it is she who brings Amelia to her senses, and who realizes that the one true gentleman in the whole of Vanity Fair is Dobbin. After eavesdropping on William's talk with Amelia, Becky says to herself, "What a noble heart that man has, and how shamefully that woman plays with it . . .

if I could have had such a husband as that — a man with a heart and brains too! I would not have minded his large feet . . ." Rebecca determines to help William's cause with Amelia. For once she acts unselfishly. When she has destroyed the memory of George for Amelia, she soothes and kisses her, a "rare mark of sympathy with Mrs. Becky." Rebecca also protects Amelia from the two ruffian friends who follow Rebecca and are intent on exploiting Amelia. Thackeray explains why Becky does what she does: "She was of a wild, roving nature, inherited from father and mother, who were both Bohemians, by taste and circumstance . . . " Becky succeeds in establishing herself in Vanity Fair, at the cost of the lives of two men and the alienation of all her friends and family. She serves as a direct contrast to Amelia.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - Free at Loyal Books By: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) If you've enjoyed watching the 1998 BBC television miniseries, you'd probably want to renew your acquaintance with William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847 novel, Vanity Fair. However, if you're unfamiliar with what has been dubbed one of the Best 100 Books in English Literature, you certainly have a treat ahead. Miss Pinkerton's Academy in Chiswick Mall in London is where young ladies with ambitions of making a good marriage are sent by their socially aspiring middleclass parents. Two young ladies, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca (Becky) Sharpe are on their way home after completing their term at Miss Pinkerton's. Amelia is from a well to do family, while Becky is a scheming orphan who has latched on to her amiable friend in the hopes of climbing the social ladder. In Amelia's comfortable Russell Square home, Becky goes to work immediately. Her target is Amelia's clumsy, boastful, wealthy civil servant brother, Joseph, who is home on furlough from India.

She also meets the dashing Captain George Osborne, Amelia's childhood sweetheart. Things don't go according to plan and Becky soon moves to a country mansion, Queen's Crawley, where she takes up a job as a governess to the children of the wealthy widower Sir Pitt Crawley. She manages to entrap the naïve younger son of the house, Rawdon Crawley. Meanwhile, Amelia and George marry. However, George is not all he seems and turns out to be a coward in war and an unscrupulous liar. He is also weary of his marriage and begins to pay undue attentions to Becky, whom he meets in Brighton where she is staying with her husband. The rest of the story follows the lives of the two classmates and their travails. The title of Vanity Fair is taken from John Bunyan's famous 17th century work, Pilgrim's Progress. In Bunyan's allegorical tale of Christian's journey, Vanity Fair is the name of an endless carnival in the town of Vanity, and represents worldly vices and sinful attachments.

Thackeray was writing in the Golden Age of Satire when greats like Dryden, Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele and Fielding were regaling readers with their caustic, acerbic wit. Vanity Fair explores the ideas of transient, materialistic desires and their harmful effects on people. His biting satirical portrait of the selfish and street smart Becky and her overwhelming desire for wealth and social success is one of the masterpieces in English literature. Thackeray's brilliant gifts for slicing through the pretensions and facades that human beings hide behind remain one of the reasons why Vanity Fair is even today considered a must read classic. If you've enjoyed watching the 1998 BBC television miniseries, you'd probably want to renew your acquaintance with William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847 novel, Vanity Fair. However, if you're unfamiliar with what has been dubbed one of the Best 100 Books in English Literature, you certainly have a treat ahead. Miss Pinkerton's Academy in Chiswick Mall in London is where young ladies with ambitions of making a good marriage are sent by their socially aspiring middleclass parents.

Two young ladies, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca (Becky) Sharpe are on their way home after completing their term at Miss Pinkerton's. Amelia is from a well to do family, while Becky is a scheming orphan who has latched on to her amiable friend in the hopes of climbing the social ladder. In Amelia's comfortable Russell Square home, Becky goes to work immediately. Her target is Amelia's clumsy, boastful, wealthy civil servant brother, Joseph, who is home on furlough from India. She also meets the dashing Captain George Osborne, Amelia's childhood sweetheart. Things don't go according to plan and Becky soon moves to a country mansion, Queen's Crawley, where she takes up a job as a governess to the children of the wealthy widower Sir Pitt Crawley. She manages to entrap the naïve younger son of the house, Rawdon Crawley. Meanwhile, Amelia and George marry. However, George is not all he seems and turns out to be a coward in war and an unscrupulous liar. He is also weary of his marriage and begins to pay undue attentions to Becky, whom he meets in Brighton where she is staying with her husband.

The rest of the story follows the lives of the two classmates and their travails. The title of Vanity Fair is taken from John Bunyan's famous 17th century work, Pilgrim's Progress. In Bunyan's allegorical tale of Christian's journey, Vanity Fair is the name of an endless carnival in the town of Vanity, and represents worldly vices and sinful attachments. Thackeray was writing in the Golden Age of Satire when greats like Dryden, Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele and Fielding were regaling readers with their caustic, acerbic wit. Vanity Fair explores the ideas of transient, materialistic desires and their harmful effects on people. His biting satirical portrait of the selfish and street smart Becky and her overwhelming desire for wealth and social success is one of the masterpieces in English literature. Thackeray's brilliant gifts for slicing through the pretensions and facades that human beings hide behind remain one of the reasons why Vanity Fair is even today considered a must read classic. Vanity Fair (1911) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later.

X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error (Reel One) Amelia Sedley, accompanied by Miss Becky Sharpe, returns from boarding school. Becky is a natural born flirt. Bashful Joseph Sedley falls desperately in love with her. He takes ... See full summary » Director: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 46 titles created 17 Oct 2015 a list of 228 titles created 1 week ago Search for " Vanity Fair " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Edit Storyline (Reel One) Amelia Sedley, accompanied by Miss Becky Sharpe, returns from boarding school. Becky is a natural born flirt. Bashful Joseph Sedley falls desperately in love with her.

He takes her to Vauxhall Gardens, where he makes an ass of himself, is very much ashamed, and refuses to keep his appointment with Becky the next day, sailing for Scotland to escape her wiles. Amelia, with her gentle sweetness, hands Becky a letter from Sir Pitt Crawley, requesting her to repair to Queen's Crawley at once. The next morning, bright and early, she takes her departure to enter Sir Pitt's household as a governess, where she meets Rawdon Crawley, youngest son of Sir Pitt, who falls captive to her charms, bringing upon himself the displeasure of the whole Pitt family. He, notwithstanding, marries Becky. (Reel Two) After their marriage, Becky Sharpe and Rawdon Crawley take up elegant lodgings at Mayfair. Rawdon, who is a captain in the English Army, is resplendent in his uniform. They are visited by...

Written by Moving Picture World synopsis 19 December 1911 (USA) See more » Also Known As: (Plano, Texas) – See all my reviews This three-reel film was a "special" in 1911, as most films at the time were just one-reel or 10-15 minutes. Just about every actor working at Vitagraph, even comedian John Bunny, appeared in it. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, so the film is unusual that Vitagraph spent a lot of money on costumes to make it look convincing. For viewers unfamiliar with the "Vanity Fair" story, viewing my be tough slogging. A thousand-page novel was condensed down into a 30-minute silent film. Basically, it is the story of Becky Sharp, an amoral woman who uses men to get what she wants, which is usually money. After she has used them, they die or rot in jail while she pursues another man. Another problem with the film is that the star, Helen Gardner, seems a little old for the lead part. Because the story is so compressed, we don't really she why she is so attractive to men.

A man basically walks into a room and is immediately smitten with her, which is not very convincing. If you are a fan of early Nickelodeon films, then definitely give this film a look. However, the average viewer will be baffled by the story of this film. 1 of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Vanity Fair Quotes and Analysis | GradeSaver Vanity Fair Quotes and Analysis Buy Study Guide The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice. Narrator, 13 The narrator makes this remark in the context of introducing the reader to Becky Sharp. He discusses that she is a difficult, unkind young woman. In turn, the world treats her unkindly. His perspective is that in life, one gets what one gives, and thus, it is Becky's fault that she has a hard life. This plays out for the entire novel.

She schemes constantly, but every time she schemes, she is either caught or her plan fails. The novel ends with her depending on funds she acquired from someone else and scorned by her friends and family. Are not there little chapters in everybody's life, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of the history? Narrator, 51 The narrator discusses the importance of the visit to Vauxhall. He remarks that despite its brevity and seeming triviality, important events will happen in this chapter that have an effect on the rest of the story. He is specifically referring to Joseph's drunken display, which inevitably prevents the marriage between Jos and Becky, and which incites Becky's hatred of George. This quote is especially representative of Thackeray's style of writing. The book was written in serial format, which meant that chapters were published separately in sections, and so each section had to contain important, suspenseful, plot-changing elements in order to hold a reader's attention. In some ways, each element of the series would have to stand on its own as a piece of literature.

But my kind reader will please to remember that this history has "Vanity Fair" for a title, and that Vanity Fair is a very vain, wicked, foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs and falsenesses and pretensions. And while the moralist, who is holding forth on the cover (an accurate portrait of your humble servant), professes to wear neither gown nor bands, but only the very same long-eared livery in which his congregation is arrayed: yet, look you, one is bound to speak the truth as far as one knows it, whether one mounts a cap and bells or a shovel-hat; and a deal of disagreeable matter must come out in the course of such an undertaking. Narrator, 75 This passage follows Rebecca's letter to Amelia. It reveals the author's intent in writing Vanity Fair. He promises the unadulterated truth, even if that truth is unpleasant. And he does promise that his revelations will be unpleasant. His title is revealing, and Rebecca's letter, in which she focuses on silly, petty and generally insignificant criticisms, is also revealing. Vanity Fair--Vanity Fair!

Here was a man, who could not spell, and did not care to read--who had the habits and the cunning of a boor: whose aim in life was pettifogging: who never had a taste, or emotion, or enjoyment, but what was sordid and foul; and yet he had rank, and honours, and power, somehow: and was a dignitary of the land, and a pillar of the state. He was high sheriff, and rode in a golden coach. Great ministers and statesmen courted him; and in Vanity Fair he had a higher place than the most brilliant genius or spotless virtue. Narrator, 82 This quote characterizes Sir Pitt Crawley, Rebecca's employer. Because he is of the nobility, the author warns that people will hold him in high regard in Vanity Fair, even though he possesses absolutely no virtues outside of his social rank. This is just another passage that condemns the society Thackeray ruthlessly satirizes in Vanity Fair. These money transactions--these speculations in life and death--these silent battles for reversionary spoil--make brothers very loving towards each other in Vanity Fair.

Narrator, 90 Money is one of the primary motivators in Vanity Fair. Becky's manipulations all inevitably aim at achieving wealth for herself. The Crawleys' dealings with Aunt Matilda all focus on her abundant estate. George and Rawdon, the novel's playboys, both suffer from the vice of gambling. The quest for material gain inevitably leads many of the characters to engage in shameful activity, such as showing false affection for those disliked. I am very fond of Amelia; I adore her, and that sort of thing. Don't look angry. She's faultless; I know she is. But you see there's no fun in winning a thing unless you play for it. George, 113 George discusses his relationship to Amelia with Dobbin. The reader can tell from this passage that George cares only for the chase when it comes to women, and that he is not interested in a serious, settled marriage with Amelia. This section also highlights the great distance between George's expectations and Amelia's. Oh, thou poor panting little soul!

The very finest tree in the whole forest, with the straightest stem and the strongest arms, and the thickest foliage, wherein you choose to build and coo, may be marked for what you know, and may be down with a crash ere long. What an old, old simile that is, between man and timber. Narrator, 115 This section emphasizes Amelia's infatuation with George and how short-sighted it is, considering that George does not have the same feelings for Amelia. The danger of nesting in a tree that only seems sturdy is an apt metaphor for Amelia's investment in George, since he does not intend to stay faithful to her. He seems the sturdy tree because on the surface he is handsome, well-off, charming, and acts as if he adores her. He further deceives her by returning to her and spontaneously marrying her, merely because he feels good about himself for doing it and because it angers his father. There is a great deal of dramatic irony where George is concerned, because the reader knows all along that he is one of those trees that looks sturdy but is surely one that will soon crash beneath her.

Amelia believes until almost the very end of the book that he loved her and that he is a good man, while the reader discovers his true nature as early as the scene involving George in his barracks, embarrassed by Amelia's emotional letters. Be cautious then, young ladies; be wary how you engage. Be shy of loving frankly; never tell all you feel, or (a better way still), feel very little. See the consequences of being prematurely honest and confiding, and mistrust yourselves and everybody. Get yourselves married as they do in France, where the lawyers are the bridesmaids and confidantes. At any rate, never have any feelings which may make you uncomfortable, or make any promises which you cannot at any required moment command and withdraw. This is the way to get on, and be respected, and have a virtuous character in Vanity Fair. Narrator, 170-171 The employment of "virtuous" in this section is peculiar, because Thackeray uses the word in a way that seems opposite to how we would normally perceive it. The author implies that in this book, values are turned on their heads. What had happened? Was she guilty or not?

She said not; but who could tell what was truth which came from those lips; or if that corrupt heart was in this case pure? All her lies and her schemes, all her selfishness and her wiles, all her wit and genius had come to this bankruptcy. Narrator, 538-539 Rawdon has just left Becky after discovering all of the money she has been hording over the past ten years. She realizes that all of her schemes have come to nothing, and that she has only a few trinkets to her name. This can probably be considered the climax of the book, because Rawdon finally sees her for who she is, and Becky is forced to come to terms with her crimes. But instead of feeling remorse for what she's done, the reader finds Becky insisting upon her innocence. The author asks his readers to consider whether this is a sincere belief, or whether Becky is simply being herself and perpetuating the lies upon which she has built her life. Which of us is there can tell how much vanity lurks in our warmest regard for others, and how selfish our love is? Old Osborne did not speculate much on the mingled nature of his feelings, and how his instinct and selfishness were combating together.

He firmly believed that everything he did was right, that he ought on all occasions, to have his own way--and like the sting of a wasp or serpent his hatred rushed out armed and poisonous against anything like opposition. He was proud of his hatred as of everything else. Always to be right, always to trample forward, and never to doubt, are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world? Narrator, 355 Old Osborne is angry because his son is buried in a common cemetery, even though Dobbin arranged to have him buried at that location because George had mentioned it as a nice place. John Osborne, as usual, thinks of nothing but pride. He does not mourn the state of his relationship with his son when he died. He does not mourn the widowed wife and fatherless son. Perhaps, it is his pride that acts as a defense in such a trying situation. The narrator mentions that feelings were combating one another. Perhaps John Osborne successfully distracts and consoles himself by being ruthlessly and aggressively righteous and particular. The narrator remarks that these are qualities with which he has made something of himself in the world. Indeed, he dismissed his friend without a thought because it challenged his reputation.

It makes sense that he would dismiss his son in a similar context. I wonder is it because men are cowards in heart that they admire bravery so much, and place military valour so far beyond every other quality for reward and worship? Narrator, 295 George is excited about going to war. Thackeray implicitly calls George a coward for his treatment of Amelia. Yet he is recklessly enthusiastic about risking his life to fight in battle. Here, the author emphasizes the great cost it is to these characters to engage honestly with one another, by contrasting it with what should be the greater cost, sacrificing one's life in war. It became the fashion, indeed, among all the honest young fellows of the --th, to adore and admire Mrs. Osborne. Her simple, artless behaviour, and modest kindness of demeanour, won all of their unsophisticated hearts; all which simplicity and sweetness are quite impossible to describe in print. But who has not beheld these among women, and recognised the presence of all sorts of qualities in them, even thought they say no more to you than that they are engaged to dance the next quadrille, or that it is very hot weather?

Narrator, 259 This is yet another of the author's subtle jabs at Amelia's personality. Although she is framed as one of the kindest and sincerest characters in the novel, the author criticizes her for her innocent simplicity and paints her in striking contrast to the witty and artful Becky. He also criticizes the men of the regiment for their unquestioned acceptance of this young woman, who is immediately met with approval because of George's reputation.

Question: in which novel does 'Rawdon Crawley' marry 'Becky Sharpe'?
Answer: 'VANITY FAIR'